Improvement in game apparatus



S. NOAH.

GAME-APPARATUS.

No.1r82,766, Patented 0ct.3, 1876.

I '"2 I Zwb WWW/mg SAMUEL NOAH, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN GAME APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 82,766, dated October 3, 1876; application `filed April 6, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL NOAH, of Salem, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Game Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which` Figures 1 to 13, inclusive, represent one of the four series of counters belonging to my improved game apparatus. Fig. 14 represents an auxiliary counter, sometimes used in connection with the other counters or cards.

My invention consists in a series of counters lwith which a great variety of games can be played, these counters or cards being ot' four different colors, representing the four seasons, each counter or card bearing a numeral of one style, (Roman, for instance,) representing the Week of the season, and a numeral ot' another style, (such as Arabic,) representing the week of the year, and also a large or small letter of the alphabetan auxiliary counter bearing the number 365 being employed, if desired.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the said drawings (Figs. 1 to 13, inclusive) are represented a series of thirteen counters or tablets, composed of ivory, pasteboard, or other suitable material, three other similar series (not shown) being employed, each series being of a different color, and representing the four seasons-for instance, green counters representing spring; red, summer; yellow, autumn; and purple, winter; there being t'ty-two counters numbered in Arabic numerals from 1 to 52, inclusive, each counter representing one week of the year, No. 1 representing the first week in the year, and so on. Each series of counters is also numbered in Roman numerals from I to XIII, inclusive, to represent the week of its respective seasonas, for instance, rst week in spring, third week in summer, 8vo. The counters are also lettered consecutively in capitals from A to Z, inclusive, from the vernal to the autnmnal equinox, and in small letters from a to z, inclusive, from the autnmnal to the vernal equinox, the large and small letters forming two series, amounting in the aggregate to the number ofthe weeks in the year.

An auxiliary tablet, b, Fig. 14, of still another color, bearing the iignres 365, representing the three hundred and sixty-fifth day of the year, may be employed, it' desired, in connection with the fty-two counters above described.

The several series of counters are all of the same color on the back, and the face may be ornamented, if desired, with figures symbolical of the seasons to which they belong.

A great number of diierent games (as with cards) can be played with the above-described counters. I will, however, give but one illustration, as follows: Any desired number ot' players can participate in the game, and the counters, with the backs upward, are equally distributed among them. A word or name is then announced-for instance the word winter.77 One of the colors-for instance green,

possessing the highest value, the colors red,

yellow, and purple, representing the succeeding seasons of summer, autumn, and winter, being valued in their respective order, the Roman numeral `XIII (thirteen) of each color being the best of that suit. Consequently the green counter bearin g the Roman numeral XIII will take any other counter of the liftytwo; but should the auxiliary counter numbered 365 be employed, it possesses the highest value of the fifty-three counters. The party next to the dealer leads off with a counter, and each player, in turn, follows suit in color it' he can, otherwise he plays a counter of higher value, if he has such, so as to take the trick, if no one plays higher. After the counters have all been played, each per son holding a counter bearing one of the let`` ters occurring in the word winter,7 previously given out, counts one. The Arabic and Roman numerals upon the counters of each player are also added together, the person possessing the highest aggregate number counting one. The counters are then dealt out again, as before, and. the game continues until one of the players makes the desired number-say, tenpreviously determined upon as constituting the game. It' red (summer) should be the color selected as the highest, then yellow,

purple, and green willy rank in value, aec'ord- VA game apparatus eonsistingoia series 'of ing te the order of the seasons which they recounters of different colors, constructed and spectively represent; consequently the three marked substantially as shown and described. suits other than the highest or trump? have Witness my hand this 4th day of April, A. independent values different from each other- D. 1876.

a feature not possessed by ordinary playing- A cards, Where, the trump having been made, l SAMUEL NOAH.

the other suits are 0f equal value, this new feature adding to the interest and amusement In presence ofafforded by the game. P. E. TESGHEMACHER,

What l claim as my invention7 and desire N. W. STEARNS.

to secure by Letters Patent, is- 

